1. Be Honest from the start. We all want to make a good impression and when we first meet new people. There are some people that take it a little far and they end up lying or stretching the truth to try and impress the other person. While it's fine to worry about impressing someone you like, you shouldn't lie to them because it will come back to bite you in the end. Keep to things that are easy to talk about like your job, your family, and your habits. You don't even need to get into the mess that is your past relationships just yet. Be upfront with the other person so they don't get invested into the relationship when there isn't much hope of a future with it because you lied.
2. Listen and ask questions. As you are in a relationship, you need to learn how to listen and don't be the one talking all the time. While you don't want to sit there silently, you also don't want to cut off the other person. Give them time to talk and to tell you about themselves. Ask questions about their likes and dislikes, hobbies, talents, etc. It also makes the conversation easier and helps to keep it engaging and interesting so you don't feel like you are both sitting there talking about nothing. Show the other person you are listening by nodding or by doing other things like following up with a personal experience that adds to what the other person finished talking about.
3. Be accepting. We all have our own quirks and other things that make us different and unique. The person you are dating may do some funny things that you find odd or annoying but you have to be accepting and open to them. Remember that you also have things like this as well and do you want a good thing to end because you are upset they wear socks with sandals? If you like rival sports teams, don't make it into a big deal. There is no need to try and make the other person conform to you. You should just learn how to accept the other person for their likes and dislikes, just as they are accepting you with yours.
4. Offer personal space. You may want to spend all the free time you have with this new person and to work on building a relationship with them but you have to be careful. You are still individuals and you may have been single for awhile so it is important to remember that you still need to have personal space where you can both focus on yourself. The one thing you have to be careful with is how many questions you ask and how pushy you are being. The other person should have to answer to you if they get a phone call or if they go away with their friends for the weekend. Your relationship is new and until you have committed to one another, you really need to learn to respect your personal space.
5. Have fun. The start of a new relationship is a lot of fun and this is the time when you get to learn about each other and to just relax and have fun. Don't make every date into a quiz because you are interested in getting to know this person. It can be a lot of fun to go places where you don't have to ask a million personal questions like heading to a sports park or rock climbing and just laughing.